Secret Invasion: Front Line #3Review

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Not exactly headline material.

By Jesse Schedeen

Secret Invasion: Front Line is supposed to chronicle the human side of Marvel's latest event, right? That should be a swift ticket to success. The only other tie-in I've read so far that seems to accurately depict the toll the invasion is taking on Joe Q. Public is Captain Britain and the MI:13. Front Line can easily fill the void, and while it does to some extent, I just don't find myself caring much. Who would have thought the human element could be so boring?

This incarnation of Front Line attempts to break away from the staff of the newspaper and focus on several groups of New York citizens. To some extent, this is one of the big problems of the book. I don't care about any of these characters. Any joy I might have felt at finally losing the annoying, grating Sally Floyd character is lost when I realize her replacements are scarcely better. Ben Urich is compelling, certainly, but he's just one small cog in a much larger machine.

Even Urich starts to fall flat this month. His reaction to the battle between Nick Fury's Secret Warriors and the Super-Skrulls is almost laughable. Brian Reed attempts to paint this invasion as the worst disaster ever to strike New York. I'm sorry, but nothing in this story or the main event really leaves me with that impression. For whatever else Secret Invasion accomplishes, it doesn't resonate with that "worst day ever" tone that, say, a Crisis does. Urich's reaction to heroes fighting heroes in Civil War: Front Line was much more powerful. Perhaps this is a sign that the Front Line concept should be left in the hands of Paul Jenkins.

As for the art of Marco Castiello and GG Studios, I'm not sure how well suited it is for such a supposedly grounded story. Castiello's slightly exaggerated pencils would feel more at home in a book like Avengers: The Initiative. Actually, Marvel might want to keep him in mind next time Stefano Caselli needs a break. It's not bad, I just don't feel it serves the story well. One segment has a Skrull hunting humans in the confines of Stark Tower. This segment should carry a horror/slasher movie feel, but the proper interplay of shadow and camera angles is never there. Juan Doe's cover, though exaggerated itself, is a much more fitting example of how this story should look.

Secret Invasion: Front Line #3

As the heroes begin to mount a resistance to the Skrull invasion, the man on the street finds survival harder than ever. Brian Reed and Marco Castiello invite you to witness the biggest event in the history of the Marvel Universe through the eyes of the average man!